Barbara – Spoiler Free – Mixed Feelings TLDR Story – 5/10 – 5 x 0.275 = 1,375 Art – 8/10 – 8 x 0.2 = 1,6 Characters – 6/10 – 6 x 0.225 = 1,35 Enjoyment – 6/10 – 6 x 0.3 = 1,8 Total: 6,125 -> 6 Story – 5/10Barbara started out with an interesting premise, but it wasn’t that well-developed.
Barbara is a story about a writer and a homeless alcoholic. We don't quite get the difference between Mikura’s intention when it comes to Barbara: if he only wants to use her as his sexual object, if he only wants to use her as an inspiration for his next novel, as he supposedly does more than once, or if his insanity comes to the fore when it comes to her and there is thus an unusual fixation on Barbara for no apparent reason, or if it is a mixture of all of the above. Probably the last option.
Once more, we have Tezuka’s moral ambiguity, as the main character's – Mikura – actions are very dubious from a moral standpoint, as he is clinically diagnosed with schizophrenia. This makes sense when evaluating some of these more irrational decisions – and there were many. There is also violence and nudity in abundance.
Barbara is a story that clearly suffered from this illness: it is schizophrenic at moments and irrational most of the time, especially when it comes to the unusual fixation with Barbara.
The ending is forgettable and uninteresting.

Art – 8/10
The art style is your typical Tezuka: a solid 8. The character design is well done, the cadence of the panels and the page flow are also good, and the landscapes are gorgeous.

Characters – 6/10
Although the characters are a little bit better than the story, they represent a wasted opportunity to develop the characters. In fact, aside from Mikura, the characters receive almost no type of development, and this includes Barbara: by far the most interesting character in the whole cast.

Enjoyment – 6/10
One cannot say that Barbara is one of the best of Tezuka’s works, as there are a lot of inconsistencies in the storytelling, which may be due to mental illness on the part of the Mikura, but are in general a letdown: at least it doesn't contribute positively to the story. Barbara is a short story that wasn’t well developed, as there could have been way more development character-wise, especially for herself and even Mikura. Barbara is the most interesting character and yet receives barely any development. It doesn't have practically any positive, with the exception of the art style, and is at best a forgettable story, although the characters are a little bit better, it doesn't, unfortunately, deserve a recommendation, for it doesn't deserve to be equated as one of the Godfather of Manga’s best works.